The UK's Department for International Development (DFID) allocated funding for a pair of drone trials meant to gauge the future utility of drones for humanitarian missions, reports the BBC.

While the exact funding details were not released, the expansion and diversification of government-funded drone testing should spur adoption and add legitimacy to drones as a useful tool. The projects that will soon begin are:

A trial partnership with Zipline delivering blood and medical supplies in Tanzania. This project will likely utilize similar infrastructure and methods to Zipline's existing service in Rwanda, using drones to sharply reduce the amount of time it takes to move blood and other crucial medical supplies from hospitals and depots to the field where people need them in moments of crisis. The drones that will be used in this project have a range of about 90 miles, and release their cargo by hovering and dropping supplies using parachutes. Using drones could reduce the time it takes to transport blood and medication by over 80%, according to a DFID spokesperson.

The DFID will also fund drone tests in Nepal, looking to create better maps of remote areas of the country prone to extreme weather. The mountainous country in the Himalayas is prone to blizzards and earthquakes, and populations are often isolated. Drones can be used to identify problems in routes between areas, or they can be called upon during, and in the immediate aftermath, of extreme weather to survey damage. While such tasks can already be accomplished by planes, removing the pilot will allow such a program to act more aggressively, not limited by risk to the pilot.

Drones are a key part of efforts to save lives and eliminate risk through the use of technology. They allow companies and governments to make deliveries of goods, whether frivolous or vital, faster. At the same time, the use of autonomous drones removes a pilot from the equation, reducing the potential casualties and allowing more aggressive missions, where only physical hardware is at risk. Following these tests, other developing nations will likely seek partners to develop drone services.

Drones turned the corner in 2015 to become a popular consumer device, while a framework for regulation that legitimizes drones in the US began to take shape. Technological and regulatory barriers still exist to further drone adoption.

Drone manufacturers and software providers are quickly developing technologies like geo-fencing and collision avoidance that will make flying drones safer. The accelerating pace of drone adoption is also pushing governments to create new regulations that balance safety and innovation.

Safer technology and better regulation will open up new applications for drones in the commercial sector, including drone delivery programs like Amazon's Prime Air and Google's Project Wing initiatives.

BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed drones report that forecasts sales revenues for consumer, enterprise, and military drones. It also projects the growth of drone shipments for consumers and enterprises.

The report details several of world's major drone suppliers and examines trends in drone adoption among several leading industries. Finally, it examines the regulatory landscape in several markets and explains how technologies like obstacle avoidance and drone-to-drone communications will impact drone adoption.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

We project revenues from drones sales to top $12 billion in 2021, up from just over $8 billion last year.

Shipments of consumer drones will more than quadruple over the next five years, fueled by increasing price competition and new technologies that make flying drones easier for beginners.

Growth in the enterprise sector will outpace the consumer sector in both shipments and revenues as regulations open up new use cases in the US and EU, the two biggest potential markets for enterprise drones.

Technologies like geo-fencing and collision avoidance will make flying drones safer and make regulators feel more comfortable with larger numbers of drones taking to the skies.

Right now FAA regulations have limited commercial drones to a select few industries and applications like aerial surveying in the agriculture, mining, and oil and gas sectors.

The military sector will continue to lead all other sectors in drone spending during our forecast period thanks to the high cost of military drones and the growing number of countries seeking to acquire them.

In full, the report:

Compares drone adoption across the consumer, enterprise, and government sectors.

Breaks down drone regulations across several key markets and explains how they've impacted adoption.

Discusses popular use cases for drones in the enterprise sector, as well as nascent use case that are on the rise.

Analyzes how different drone manufacturers are trying to differentiate their offerings with better hardware and software components.

Explains how drone manufacturers are quickly enabling autonomous flight in their products that will be a major boon for drone adoption.

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